Elderly man beaten at Warren psychiatric hospital dies

An 80-year-old man who was beaten last month at a Warren psychiatric hospital where he was a patient, has died, the attorney for the senior citizen’s family said Friday.

Albert Potter of Chesterfield Township died Thursday, confirmed a spokesman at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak where Potter was rushed in critical condition.

Potter was viciously beaten Jan. 27 at the Behavioral Center of Michigan, on 12 Mile at Ryan Road, where he was underwgoing inpatient treatment for an undisclosed psychiatric condition, Warren police said. He suffered multiple skull fractures and cuts to his face. Several of his teeth were knocked out and one eye was severely damaged.

“The family is devastated that he died under such horrific circumstances,” said Terry Dawes, an attorney for Potter’s family. “The hospital in Warren was responsible for keeping him safe and they obviously failed to do so.”

Dawes said Potter suffered bleeding on the brain, was removed from a ventilator this week, breathed on his own and was moved to the hospice unit at Beaumont Hospital.

“There wasn’t much hope of recovery. They were just trying to keep him comfortable and just wait for the inevitable,” he said.

A fellow patient at the psychiatric center, Jajuan Richard Whitlow, 23, of Canton, is charged with assault with intent to commit murder. With Potter’s death, prosecutors could amend their case and file a more severe charge against Whitlow.

At the request of Whitlow’s attorney, 37th District Judge Dean Ausilio on Tuesday referred Whitlow to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Ypsilanti to determine whether he was mentally culpable for the beating and if he understands the allegation and can assist in his own defense.

A lawsuit could be imminent.Dawes, of the law firm Fieger, Fieger, Kenney, Giroux & Danzig in Southfield, said attorneys there continue to investigate the circumstances of the incident “and we’re going to pursue this case very quickly.”

Whitlow had just been transferred to the Behavioral Center of Michigan from Annapolis Hospital in Wayne County. His attorney, Todd Perkins, said this week that Whitlow was involved in an incident at his mother’s home in Canton that led family members or police to have him sent to Annapolis Hospital for mental observation. Perkins immediately did not know details of the domestic incident.

Perkins said Whitlow’s relatives are having difficulty dealing with the circumstances and feel badly for the victim’s family.